A fireball lighted the sky in Madison, Wis., Wednesday night, part of a meteorite shower, as seen on a rooftop webcam operated by the University of Wisconsin's atmospheric and oceanic sciences department.

CHICAGO — On the first day, there was light. On the third day, land — strewn with meteorites.

A spectacular meteorite shower that lighted the sky in several Midwestern states Wednesday night sent meteorite hunters scrambling to get to southwestern Wisconsin during the past two days for the pieces of rock from outer space.

Initial bragging rights went to Terry Boudreaux, a 49-year-old collector from the Chicago area. After reports of a fireball in the sky surfaced Wednesday night, Mr. Boudreaux calculated the meteorites’ path and took his two sons out of school Thursday to drive four hours to Livingston, Wis.

They were dejected after a day of searching in vain, Mr. Boudreaux said, when a dairy farmer approached them with a rock he had found in his driveway and asked if it was a meteorite.

“Our first reaction was one of disbelief,” Mr. Boudreaux said Friday. “I expected it to be a piece of asphalt.”

He said he gave the farmer $200 for the meteorite, which is about the size of a quarter, and planned to donate it to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. He would not disclose the farm’s location because he did not want competition when he went back to look for more.

Paul P. Sipiera, adjunct curator of meteorites at the Field Museum, said the fireball effect was a result of friction and heat generated when a meteor hit Earth’s atmosphere, which caused it to burn up and break apart.

Michael Farmer, an Arizona collector who was on his way to Wisconsin on Friday, said there could be hundreds of meteorites in the vicinity, with a total value of as much as $1 million. They are often sold online or to museums.

“Something this big only happens once every few years,” Mr. Farmer said. “It will be like a gold rush.”

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